Good goat milk quarters may be had this season in the island of Arran, in a very commodious slated house, hard by the Castle of Brodick, consisting of three very good rooms above stairs, and two below, with a large kitchen, some bedsteads, chairs and tables. This house will serve two small families with garden things at hand.

Glasgow Journal 2 March 1759.

Though cows' milk and cheese are important island products, it was the health giving powers of goats' milk which first attracted visitors to the island in the 18th century. It was a time when every farm produced butter and cheese from its own milk, and some of the Arran farms, on the best land, had large dairy herds where cheese and butter were important products. An old farmhouse dairy with many items of the old equipment can be seen at the Arran Heritage Museum at Rosaburn in Brodick.

With the setting up of the Scottish Milk Marketing Board in the 1930s, and as large scale factory production took over from the farmhouse cheese makers, a creamery was built on Arran in 1946 at Torrylinn in the south of the island nearest the best grazing lands. There are around 10 dairy farms and most of the dairy cows are black and white Friesan / Holstein crosses. One herd remains of native Ayrshire's producing less milk per head of cow, but with a higher fat content than the Friesan crosses. Other island cheese making today is in the old dairy at the Castle's Home Farm, where a range of artisan cheeses are made on
a small scale.

The island's milk, which is not used for cheese making, is pasteurised at Arran Dairies, in Brodick. The good feeding on lush grasslands providing a rich milk which unlike most mainland milk is not homogenised and has an old-fashioned cream line which can be seen in the company's plastic bottles. Also, unlike most mainland milk, the fat content is not standardised in Arran milk to around 3.5% but varies according to the season ranging from around 3.9% in winter to 4.3% in summer. Arran double cream is also available from Arran Dairies.